Vallejo fire burns building, throws smoke across city

A four-alarm fire consumed a single-story Vallejo building on Sunday afternoon, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the air.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but at just after 4:30 p.m., firefighters responded to the area of Couch Street to reports of a grass fire.

However, what they found was a single story structure on fire at the end of California Street, between Sonoma Boulevard and Couch Street.

The fire was quickly upgraded to a two-alarm blaze but, as jets of flames shot several stories into the air, eventually it was upgraded once more to a four-alarm fire. The wind blew the smoke north and east from the boarded up building and former auto shop at 38 California St., covering parts of the city.

Firefighters cut through locked gates to gain entrance to the building's yard and attacked the fire from several sides. At one point, fire crew on the roof were engulfed in the thick, black smoke before they were able to push the fire back.

Several onlookers gathered in the alley next to the facility until they were pushed back to a safe distance near the Jolly Ice Cream yard. Two witnesses told the Times-Herald that there was also a homeless encampment behind the building, near the railroad tracks that separate it from Couch Street.

Firefighters managed to get the fire under control in about an hour. No injuries have been reported yet.